Obama Escalates Debt Fight

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama, facing a battle over raising the U.S. borrowing limit, made clear Monday that he sees no alternative to Congress voting for an increase and said that not doing so would be "irresponsible" and "absurd."

Mr. Obama's confrontational message—that a debate over the debt limit was already harming the economy and could push the U.S. into a recession—was primarily aimed at Republicans, who plan to use the debt-limit vote as leverage to extract cuts in federal spending. But it...